Talent Migration Out Of Africa, Economic Gains Against Drawbacks
- Hamza Kyeyune
- 29 Tem
- 7 dakikada okunur
While much is said about African players leaving the continent for foreign leagues, little is said about the greater financial incentives for sports elites from the continent.
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent on the planet with over 1.5 billion people. It has a rich history of producing world-class talent well-known for displaying their ability in sports. There are numerous acclaimed famous people from Africa, breaking records in the field of sports, particularly in athletics, football, and rugby.
Iconic figures in athletics like multi-gold medalists Meseret Defar (Ethiopia), Robel Kiros Habte (Ethiopia), Eliud Kipchoge, two Olympic gold medalists from Kenya, Kipchoge Keino (Kenya), Joshua Cheptegei, the multiple world records and Olympic champion from Uganda, Stephen Kiprotich, the marathon gold medalist from Uganda are all globally recognized.
Africa's iconic footballers including George Weah from Liberia, the winner of Ballon d'Or, an annual football award presented by French magazine France Football, recognizing the best footballers in the world. George Weah played for AC Milan and PSG before later becoming the President of Liberia. Other African soccer titans include prolific scorer Samuel Eto'o from Cameroon, who had an illustrious European career winning 3 La Liga titles, 2 Copa del Rey titles, and 2 UEFA Champions League titles with FC Barcelona. He also won 4 African Player of the Year awards, 2 AFCON titles, and won back-to-back trebles with Barcelona and Inter Milan. Didier Drogba another icon from Ivory Coast who dominated European football, most notably winning the 2012 UEFA Champions League with Chelsea FC and later played for Turkish club Galatasaray. Mohamed Salah, the most dominant African player from Egypt, recognized as a Liverpool icon with over 245 goals for the club. He is widely regarded as one of the best players of his generation and one of the greatest wingers of all time that played for Chelsea. He holds records for the most goals and assists by an African in the Premier League. He has won the Premier League, Champions League, and three Golden Boots, the prestigious football awards presented to the top goal scorers in various competitions.
Other African players like Algerian Zinedine Zidane, a former mercurial French midfielder have made a monumental impact in European football. Europe remains the biggest importer of African talent with over 500 African footballers currently playing in top leagues such as the English Premier League, La Liga, and Ligue 1.
The data over the last five years shows 6,220 amateur players moved to clubs across UEFA-affiliated countries, signaling that many young African footballers are willing to take the chance of moving to European lower divisions and academies even before securing professional contracts.
Recognition of African Talent
There are rising signals of reputation recognition of players from the African continent. A few years ago, it was rare to see an African player receive $10’000 per week, but today, top global clubs are paying record salaries to African players, with elite stars earning over a million dollar per week. Major earners include Riyad Mahrez from Algeria, receiving £836,000 a week, Sadio Mane from Senegal, receiving £640,000 a week, Kalidou Koulibaly from Senegal, earning £555,000 a week, Mohamed Salah from Egypt, earning £350,000 a week, reflecting a surge in recognition of African talent.
Côte d’Ivoire’s Nicolas Pépé holds the record as the most expensive African footballer when he moved from LOSC Lille in France to Arsenal FC in England for $88.9 million (€80.00m) in 2019. Just a year later, Nigeria’s Victor Osimhen joined the ranks of big-money transfers, completing a transfer from the same French club to SSC Napoli in Italy for $91.2 million (€77.50m). The highest-paid African players are currently in the Saudi Pro League, but It remains clear that sports in the European market remains extremely lucrative, with many Africans dreaming to play at the highest level, in the biggest leagues, and better wages.
Beyond soccer, a number of elite athletes from Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria often represent European and Middle Eastern nations such as Qatar, Bahrain, Turkey, and USA with mega benefits.
Brigid Kosgei, Kenya’s former marathon world record holder who won the 2018 and 2019 Chicago Marathons, the 2019 and 2020 London Marathons and the 2021 and 2026 Tokyo Marathons says that she switched her sporting nationality and four other Kenyan athletes will represent Türkiye at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. She said the process of obtaining Turkish citizenship began in 2024, reports indicate she was offered a $500,000 signing bonus, along with a monthly salary and bonuses for major wins. The other athletes switching allegiance are Catherine Amanang’ole, Brian Kibor and Nelvin Jepkemboi.
In addition, Vivian Jemutai won both the 5,000m and 10,000m titles at the 2016 European Athletics Championships in Amsterdam while representing Türkiye under the name of Yasemin Can. She set the 3,000m indoor Turkish record (8:43.46) at the 2017 European Indoor Championships. For 18 years she had represented Kenya before receiving Turkish citizenship.
Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi, winner of the 3,000M women’s steeplechase and new Olympic record holder, and Ruth Jebet from Kenya, who won for Bahrain its first ever Olympic gold medal and flew the Bahrain flag when the country’s national anthem was played during the 2016 Rio Olympics earned over $470,000 from the Bahraini government as a token of appreciation for winning the gold and setting a new Olympic record. For perspective, the Kenyan government awarded gold medalists’ winners in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics a cash bonus of 1 million Kenyan Shillings, which was approximately $9,000–$9,100 at the time.
Switching Nationalities
As several countries offer greater financial incentives for sports elites from Africa compared to their home nations, including significant medal bonuses, numerous talented champions of African descent will continue switching nationalities.
Many nations especially the Gulf states are pumping millions of dollars into the sports industry, at a time underinvestment in sports facilities and talent development remains prevalent in Africa. If the trend remains unchecked, we will undoubtedly see more young African talent switching nationalities continue unabated, and possibly even rise. European teams like Barcelona have now set up academies in Africa to develop young talent and send them to Europe. Already, there are many African academies within the continent who set-up academies as their business for example Generation Foot of Senegal who have produced the likes of Sadio Mane.
In addition to infrastructure is incompetence by sports authorities. A vivid example of Annette Echikunwoke was set to represent Nigeria at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. However, due to what can only be described as negligence on the part of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), she was ruled ineligible just days before the competition. The AFN had the funds to facilitate her qualification process but yet failed to ensure her proper registration. Disheartened, Echikunwoke switched allegiance to the United States and went on to win a silver medal in the hammer throw at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The story of Echikunwoke highlights the gaps in Africa sports administration and the underlying issues driving its superstars to represent other countries.
Reverse Migration:
Sports, particularly soccer is a game of movement, not just on the pitch, but also across borders. While much is said about African players leaving the continent for foreign leagues, there is also a growing trend of players moving into Africa. The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar saw a significant number of players from countries other than their birthplace representing Africa's national teams. 42% of Africa’s players at Qatar were born outside the continent. One notable example was Ghana convincing 28-year-old Spanish-born player Iñaki Williams to turn out for the Black Stars, even as his much younger brother Nico was called up for Spain.
Morocco too, actively recruited players of African descent born in Europe to strengthen their national team in the 2023 AFCON, with more than half of its 26 players born in other countries. Senegal, Tunisia, and Cameroon have just as many foreign-born players in their squads, to bolster national teams.
Important to note is that whereas Africa is a major exporter of talent to Europe, the largest share of foreign-born players in top European leagues were not born in Africa. France’s Kylian Mbappe, one of the best scorers was born in Paris to a Cameroonian father, as was his teammate Aurélien Tchouaméni. Cody Gakpo, another top scorer from the Netherlands, was born to a Togolese father. Timothy Weah, the American forward, son of the Liberian president and soccer idol George Weah, was born in New York City, and the same pattern holds for many other players.
Within the African continent itself, there has been a high level of internal movement. A total of 9,870 local African players have transferred to other clubs within CAF-affiliated countries. This is the second-highest total after Europe and shows that many African players still prefer to stay within the continent rather than move far away.
The majority of these transfers are professional moves, with 6,909 male players switching clubs within Africa. This suggests that despite the growing trend of international transfers, African domestic leagues still have strong recruitment networks that allow talent to move between different countries. The amateur game is also thriving within the continent, with 2,444 amateur players transferring to clubs in other African nations.
Halting Talent Drain
In order to help halt the drain of talent from Africa, governments ought to invest more resources in sports and to Improve welfare. Current investment represents only 0.5% of Africa's GDP, compared to 2% globally, indicating a massive, underfunded, and unstructured sector. Utilizing sports as a catalyst for economic growth, youth employment, and social cohesion would reverse the brain and muscle drain And leave Africa with its talent so richly deserves. This with the intervention of private investment may go a long way to minimize the talent drain from African nations.
Additionally, Western nations should pay taxes to African nations for every football player signed from the continent. African nations benefit very little value of its talented sports campions plying their trade in foreign countries. There is no current international law or FIFA regulation that requires foreign countries to pay a specific tax to African nations for every talented champion exported, except for training compensation and solidarity mechanisms. Addressing this crisis would enable Africa tap into resources much needed to develop continental sports.
Refences
Martín-González etal (2021), Sport and development in South Africa
L Langer (2015), Sport for development in Africa
Turkey invests in foreign athletes to deliver LA Olympics gold
Africa's top ten most expensive players
Kosgei confirms switch from Kenya to Türkiye https://www.dailysabah.com/sports/olympic-silver-medalist-kosgei-confirms-switch-from-kenya-to-turkiye/news
FIFA Global Transfer Market reports
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